Canary Notes: Bullying in the Workplace

"There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt." - Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain

Bully in sight identifies bullying as the common denominator of harassment, discrimination, prejudice, abuse, conflict and violence, and describes the principal perpetrator of psychological violence, the serial bully. Bully in sight is one of the first books to describe psychiatric injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from long-term bullying.

Written with the experience and insight only a fellow experiencer can impart, Bully in sight validates the experience of bullying when everyone else is trying to ignore or deny it. Packed with insight, ideas, guidance and direction, plus sources of help and suggested reading.

"No accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person's enemies say about him. "

Behind the Blue Line

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply shocking and disturbing experience. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Any human being has the potential to develop PTSD. The cause is external not internal. It is a Psychiatric Injury not Mental Illness. It is not resulting from the individual’s personality. The Whistleblower who is the victim of the retaliation is not inherently weak or inferior. In fact, any human being has the potential to develop PTSD. Whistleblower retaliation is extremely stressful and may lead to burnout or stress break-down - which is not the same as nervous or mental break-down; as stated above, everyone breaks down under the stress of a life altering trauma that is deeply wounding. Thus individuals suffering PTSD are injured, not mentally ill. PTSD indicates severe trauma and stress which causes a weakness in the individual, and not the reverse. This is confusing for mental health practitioners and laypersons alike. But the distinction is important if mental health practitioners desire to assist a traumatized victim. Too often reactions which are normal under excessive or prolonged stress are assumed to be signs of abnormality or deficiency within the person affected, which may then be assumed to be the cause of the problem rather than a consequence of it (this is sometimes referred to as the "Mental Health Trap"). The diagnosis Complex PTSD comes from being exposed to multiple traumas, sometimes small but causing cumulative emotional damage over a long period of time. PTSD changes the diagnosed individual’s life and greatly impacts the lives of those with whom they are close and regularly interact. The explosive rage, depression, isolation, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, and lack of vitality combine to cause loved ones to leave. But a strong support network is essential for healing. Friends and families are an integral part of that network. Trusting relationships are essential to combat the dehumanizing effect of trauma. Many therapists practice narrative therapy believing this is essential to overcoming the trauma. This however is not good for all who are suffering from PTSD because it forces them to relive the events of the trauma. Some people do better never narrating the trauma and should instead focus on coping techniques to deal with triggers. A trigger is something that causes memory flashbacks and intrusive thoughts of the previous trauma. Under extreme or prolonged stress people of a previously very strong constitution may become unassertive, over-anxious, compliant and unable to cope with even the most trivial of stressors. A person's reactions under stress may resemble symptoms of mental illness - loss of emotional control, apparent over-reactions to seemingly trivial stimuli, hypervigilance (e.g. being on constant alert for further abuse) etc., may be mistaken for instability, irrational behavior and paranoia. It is important for supporters to provide a safe physical environment, but also emotional safety and be willing to accept a wide range of emotions. According to Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs, the being needs, the three higher-order needs, cannot be met until the deficiency needs the four lower-order needs, are met.. This is critical to relationship building, which will help provide the strong support network that is essential for healing. Recovery requires a sense of power and control. All relationships should be respectful and empower the Whistleblower to make choices. The Whistleblower 's symptoms and behaviors are adaptations to trauma, so services should address all of the Whistle-blower’s needs rather than just symptoms.

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."

Voltaire

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope...Those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of resistance."

- Robert F. Kennedy,

South Africa, 1966

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." Confucius

Vietnam Veterans of America, Crisis Phone Number. Special Notice: If you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255 available 24/7, and tell them you are a veteran. All calls are confidential. http://www.vva.org/.

Veterans’ Crisis Intervention Hotline: 1-888-899-9377. A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis.

Safe Harbor includes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs.

Medwatch— The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and
again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but
who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who
at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore
Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic",
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

Medical Whistleblower Commitment to Non-Violence

Medical Whistleblower has a commitment to improving the protection of all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as defined in, among others, the following regional and international legal instruments:

• UN legal instruments pertaining to human rights, including: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the international covenants on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights; the conventions providing for monitoring mechanisms (torture, racial discrimination, discrimination against women, the rights of the child, rights of migrant workers and their families); and the conventions and standards of the International Labor Organization;

• Special procedures and non-treaty mechanisms of the United Nations;

• The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;

• The UN resolution establishing the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders;

• The United Nations guidelines on human rights defenders;

In addition, Medical Whistleblower upholds the principle of a code of ethical and moral conduct that all means used by Medical Whistleblower will not include violence - We exclude the use of violence to advance political aims. We work with and in collaboration with existing governmental structures and systems but put pressure on governments in a non-violent manner to achieve human rights protections and goals.

"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."

“When we call anything a person’s right, we mean that he has a
valid claim on society to protect him in the possession of it, either by the
force of law, or by that of education and opinion”

John Stuart Mill

"The adversarial system of justice is by nature unfair and unjust. It favours the strongover the weak. It accentuates social and cultural differences, favouring the rich whoare able to engage and pay for the services of one or more layers."

Justice MinisterMadame Guigou, 1999

“Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.”
―Martin Luther

Protect Medical Whistleblowers

“The most powerful individual in the state will be cautious of committing any flagrant invasion of another’s right, when he knows that the fact of his oppression must be examined and decided by twelve indifferent men.”

Registration Survey

“I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something
that I can do.”
― Edward Everett Hale

Film on Residential Child Abuse

Over the GW - Available on DVD

Make Torture of US Citizens on US Soil illegal

IF YOU NEED HELP

Vietnam
Veterans of America, Crisis Phone Number. Special
Notice: If you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call
this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255 available 24/7, and tell them you are a
veteran. All calls are confidential. http://www.vva.org/.

Veterans’
Crisis Intervention Hotline: 1-888-899-9377.
A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network
to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult
issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of
veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis.

Safe Harborincludes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs.